


Love Is A Natural Disaster

by Alltheshrinks



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Gay Sex, M/M, Minor Injuries, Oral Sex, Switching, earthquake and volcano related injuries and damage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 22:13:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19839559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alltheshrinks/pseuds/Alltheshrinks
Summary: Jared Padalecki, Eagle Scout and science teacher, spends his days in the mountains of a quiet little corner of the state of Washington. It’s an idyllic paradise, the Cascade Mountain Range are some of the most beautiful and some of the deadliest volcanoes in The United States, But Jared is content leading his scouts and being alone.Dr. Jensen Ackles, is one of the leadings volcanologists around, second only to his mentor Dr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, volcanoes are his passion, his one love. But that wasn’t always the case.When Jared notices all the signs that their active volcano is getting ready to erupt, he calls the USGS, who sends in his former boyfriend and the man he walked out, Jensen, to investigate.Can they put their feelings behind them long enough to save the town, or will everything be destroyed in one catastrophe or the other?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I teamed up with the lovely and talented tx-devilorange, whose wonderful is here  
> https://tx-devilorangel.livejournal.com/d39.html  
> And here https://archiveofourown.org/works/19835413
> 
> Thank you to PadacklesBitches for beat-ing, handholding, all of the cheerleading, the general discussion that I didn’t suck, or talking me down off a ledge. You are a rockstar of epic proportions. 
> 
> Thank You to Wendy, thehighwaywoman, and anyone I may have missed in my sleep deprived stupor.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared Padalecki, Eagle Scout and science teacher, spends his days in the mountains of a quiet little corner of the state of Washington. It’s an idyllic paradise, the Cascade Mountain Range are some of the most beautiful and some of the deadliest volcanoes in The United States, But Jared is content leading his scouts and being alone. 
> 
> Dr. Jensen Ackles, is one of the leadings volcanologists around, second only to his mentor Dr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, volcanoes are his passion, his one love. But that wasn’t always the case. 
> 
> When Jared notices all the signs that their active volcano is getting ready to erupt, he calls the USGS, who sends in his former boyfriend and the man he walked out, Jensen, to investigate. 
> 
> Can they put their feelings behind them long enough to save the town, or will everything be destroyed in one catastrophe or the other?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I teamed with the lovely @TxDorA For art. She is amazing and talented and be sure to check it her work here!!! Thank you for your patience and hand holding holding. I loved her pieces and I hope we get to work again soon ❤️❤️.
> 
> Thank you for my 3 amazing betas- First: @PadacklesBitches Who handheld, cheerlead, and made sure that I knew that I didn’t suck. She also talked me off of several ledges. I love you. 
> 
> Second is @lotrspnfangirl who is a kick ass writer and beta that is sweet and will defend her friend no matter what. Love you. 
> 
> Also to Jenn. You are amazing and such a spitfire, wading through all my grammatical errors and horrid spellings, never side eyeing me!!! I love you!!!! 
> 
> Thank you to my best friend Deeann S, who has been my been my best friend since 13 and 14. Thank you so much for everything that you’ve done!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Republican Dominica 2002

The night sky that  was  normally lit with millions of  stars, was black and obscured, due to the thick clouds that were rolling out from  Nyiragongo , a volcano that last erupted in 1994. Rumblings started early the year before and Dr. Jeffery Dean Morgan, one of the top volcanologists in the world, was flown in with five of his top students to study the advance rumbling of the volcano, not to mention the advanced C02 levels and the mysterious death for local flora and fauna. 

PhD Candidate, Jensen Ackles , had poured over the numbers that had printed out of the  geiger counter and made notes by the kerosene lamp inside the tent that was set up at the campsite at the base of the volcano.

Geology student, Jared Padalecki , checked the CO2 readouts and checked them against the numbers of known eruptions from across the globe from the last 10 years. He was also sneaking glances  at Jensen, his boyfriend of  the last two years. Jensen's glasses were sliding down his nose and his brow was furrowed as all his attent ion and focus was zeroed in on his work. He was he most gorgeous thing that Jared had ever laid eyes on. 

When Jared had first seen him during his visit to the University of Oregon, he instantly fell in love at first sight. It was such a  cliche , but Jared couldn't help it. When Jared noticed  the table that Jensen was manning, he couldn't help but think that geology was going to be his major. T hen when he first spoke to the Adonis that  was handing out brochures,  volcanology sounded like it was romantic and exciting, just like the man whom spoke about it with such passion that he knew that there was more to the beautiful, albeit smart , man who was so excited at the subject then met the eye. 

"So, interested in geology?" The rough timber, with a hint of Texas, made Jared's insides turn to mush.

"Um...” Jared was having a hard time finding his voice and was sure the man thought that he was lacking in the brains department. "Yes, it ’s why I chose this college. But the study of volcanoes  has always peaked my interest." Jared lied. The smile that broke out over Jensen's face made the man even more attractive, if that was even possible. 

"Do I hint a twang of Texas in your voice?" The older man's unworldly green eyes spark l ed, while his perfect teeth glistened in the sun.

"Yep," Jared replied, "San Antonio. Jared Padalecki." Jared wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans and the held out his hand. 

"Jensen Ackles. Dallas." If anything, Jared was becoming more and more  besotted with the fellow Texan,  "Small world, after all."

"Well, here are some pamphlets and forms  for our department. Dr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is one of the top volcanologists in the world and I'm  his TA and research assistant. Would love to see you here this year. ”

Jensen was not just being polite, he had noticed the tall drink of water from across the quad and prayed to the powers that be that Mr. sex on legs had made his way over to his table. Once he got a good look at that muscular body and heard that distinctive accent from ho me, he was hooked. The kid was  absolutely every wet dream that he'd had since he knew that he was gay. 

Jensen was so absorbed in his paper work that he never even heard Jared approach him from behind, wrapping his long arms around his neck and applying wet, nipping  kissing along his jaw line and  sucking an earlobe into his mouth.

Jensen groaned loudly, feeling warm and tingling all over and his erection starting to strain against his khaki shorts. Finally his academic brain took over and he groaned again, "Jared. Babe, stop! I have to get these read outs finished and you need to finish your report, or Jeff will throw us both into the lava lake."

"Come on, just 20 minutes. I'll blow you." Jared's Hazel puppy dog eyes and dimples were something that Jensen never could resist, neither was that talented mouth of his. He was so screwed. 

"Okay, 15 minutes and then you get back to work. This needs to be finished a nd finished soon. If it isn't, more than plants and animals will die."

"Scouts honor!" Jared raised his fingers in the universal scout's salute and dropped to his knees. He was giddy and elated that he could make such a dedicated scholar abandon his life's work and  passion for a little oral sex, especially one that looked like his boyfriend, who was as dedicated as he was attractive.

Jared popped the buttons on Jensen's shorts and slid them off his narrow hips, hooked them behind h is balls and wa sted no time licking the moisture that had already collected along the slit of the older man's engorged cock. Jared lapped it up l ike it was the best tasting thing that he'd ever had, which it may have been. He licked around the crown before tonguing all the way up the underside of Jensen's dick, sucking at the sensitive nerves just under the head of he rock hard length. 

Jared's own erection had begun to throb and leak inside his boxers, an almost painful ache that he was having trouble ig noring. Jensen's porn star moans, however, were shoving his own desires back down to the recesses of his mind. 

"Oh my god, Jay. You feel so damn good, I'm going to blow like a volcano if you don't stop!" Jensen's whisky rough voice rasped when Jared swallowed him completely down to his throat. The older man was always amazed that his boyfriend could swallow so far that his nose bumped against Jensen's pubic hair with out even gagging. 

Once the older male started to writhe and thrust up, Jared had to palm his own pulsating hard-on that was becoming so agonizing that he was on the cusp of pulling it out and  stroking himself. 

"Jesus Christ, I'm going to come!" Jensen's sex drunk rasp was barely a whisper as he grabbed a hand full of Jared's shoulder-length hair and leaned back in the canvas chair that he was using as a desk chair. His heart was thundering in his chest for the love that he felt for the young man between his legs. He couldn't believe that the two loves of his life were here, with him now. 

Jared grabbed his balls and hummed around the throbbing member in his throat and his lover lost all coherent thought as his sack drew up into his body and his orgasm started from his groin and spread all the way up to the base of his spine. His abdominal muscles contracted and as Jared sucked him down harder, Jensen's let go. Pleasure overloaded his senses as hot jets of come ejected from his body before he could even warn Jared of his impeding release. Jensen's climax went on forever as Jared continued to milk all of his seed from his deflating cock. 

"You're going to be the death of me," the older volcanologist panted out as he tried to calm his rapid breathing down, as well as his heart rate. 

Jared's heart swelled in his chest, receiving such praise from someone that he n ot only admired professionally,  but loved with all his heart. He would follow the man to the end of the earth, hell he already had, and would move mountains for a kind word from him.

"Want me to return the favor?" Jensen leered at the younger scientist with a devilish smirk and half lidded eyes. 

"I wouldn't turn down oral sex from that talented mouth, but I was hoping for maybe something more." Jared's pout was almost as bad as his puppy dog eyes and Jensen could barely resist either. 

"Jared," Jensen's voice was gentle and loving as it often was when he was going to refuse the he young man of something, which often tore his own heart out his  chest. "We agreed on 20 minutes. It’s been 25. Jeff is going to murder us both."

"What Dr. Morgan doesn't know won't hurt him. " Jared's sly smile and adorable dimples made Jensen's heart fill with love that he'd never experienced outside of his love of volcanoes. He knew he was going to say yes, no point in tying to get out of it. 

"What did you have in mind?" Already cringing at how quickly he had acquiesced to the tall man's request. Jared laid a packet of lube on the table and smiled that Cheshire grin that he always got when he knew that he was going to get his way. 

"Jared...” Jensen sighed, "as much as I'd love to fuck, we are on a time schedule. Let me give you  head and I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"But its been several days  and  you promised that the last time." His lip quivered and tears started to pool in his eyes. Knowing that Jared was a phenomenal actor, Jensen still couldn't bring himself to say no.

"A quickie, that's it. We have dangerous work to get done!" Jensen was madly in love with his assistant, but knew that he was already going to regret this.

There was nothing gentle as Jared nearly ripped the older man's clothing off, his mouth vicious, devouring Jensen's own at a brutal and frantic pace. The kisses were brutal and a copper taste flooded both of the men's orifices, while Jared sucked on Jensen's tongue so forcefully that is stung like a bee sting. The younger man's large hands grabbed the other man's head so violently that Jensen thought it might smash like a watermelon in one of Gallagher' comedy shows. Not that he minded , they both loved it rough. 

Jared wasted no time ripping the lube open and coating his fingers, inserting two at a time into to Jensen's puckered opening. The sting that followed was completely normal as the older scientist relished the burn. Jared began quickly scissoring his fingers. While expert fingers found that sweet bundle of nerve s deep inside that made his lover let out a grumbled roar from deep inside his chest. Once the third finger was inserted quickly, Jensen canted his hips quickly back into it, his pleasure/pain respecters made his head dizzy and his nerve endings lit on fire. 

Jared shoved the papers off the table and positioned the older man's upper body on the table, while shoving his pants and boxers down around his knees.

"Just do it already!" Jensen braced his forearms on the table top and shoved his hips back separating his legs as far back as he could. 

Jared didn't need to be told twice, he lined up his cock with the opening and shoved in all the way to the hilt in one swift thrust. His own exhaled breath matched that of the man beneath him. He stilled momentarily, more to keep the tight warm heat from causing this to be over too quickly, rather than giving Jensen a reprieve from the intrusion. 

"We haven't got all day, if Jeff catches us, there will be hell to pay." Jensen blew out while shoving back, impaling himself on Jared's length. 

The younger student took that as a hint and pulled out, only to brutally shove back in. The force of the impact knocked all the research and equipment tumbling to the ground. Jensen momentarily winced, only partially from the clatter of the machinery impacting on the floor. 

The pace was brutal. Jared's hips  pistoning in a figure eight pattern, forcing his lover further up the make shift work -station. All Jense n could do was white knuckle the sides of the Formica and try to quiet his litany of curse words falling from his mouth. 

Jared wasn't fairing much better, the obscenities that he was muttering, kept getting louder and the slap of skin on skin, mingled together in a noise that would make a porn star blush. His hair and back were soaked in sweat and legs were beginning to shake uncontrollably. 

Jensen's body was also soaking wet and the perspiration was dripping down in his eyes, the salt stinging and clouding his vision enough that he couldn't see.

Again and again the skin on skin caused red welts and Jared's fingertips were leaving bruises on the older man's hips and waist, not to mention half moon divots that were starting to break the skin. Jared shoved him up farther onto the table where the shorter man's tip toes barely touched he ground, allowing him to nail Jensen's prostate on every thrust. 

The noises coming from the older scientist's throat were akin to a person drowning, which was a dead on metaphor to the man currently getting pummeled within an inch of his life. He couldn't even make a coherent sound, it was just a gurgling no is e that Jared would have laughed at if he wasn't buried balls deep inside the man of his dreams. 

"Oh my God!" Jensen let out as Jared reached around and grabbed his pulsating cock, that was already soaked with sweat and  precome, the vein underneath bulged like a water balloon that was ready to explode. 

"It's Jared and I thought you were an atheist?" Jared could barely make out between his harsh breathing. 

"If there isn't a God, then that dick came from Satan himself," the last word was high pitched as every muscle in Jensen's body tensed up and he let out a whimper. His balls tightened up against his perineum and a white  - hot heat started uncoiling from his spine,  lighting all of his nerve endings on fire. His climax started deep inside his abdomen, then expanded to his groin area and finally all over his body. The endomorphs filled his brain with a deep feeling of well being, almost like a runners high. Come flowed out of his body like the geyser at Yellowstone's Old Faithful, it was what he knew, ju dg ment not necessary. It covered the table  - top, his briefcase and would have destroyed all of their weeks of research and equipment, had it not fallen victim to being shoved off the table in their haste to copulate. Jared's hand and forearm was soaked wit h it, as were Jensen's glasses, which had been knocked off his face during Jared's rough housing. 

After the older man's sphincter muscle started to contract from his orgasm, Jared hissed out a curse and felt the tightness around his own hard-on. It was as if he was caught in the best feeling  of  velvet vise known to man. Sex had never felt a s good as it had with the man  l ying boneless under him. He had feared that after a matter of time, it would become monotonous and boring, but with Jensen, every time got better, no matter who topped or bottomed, something about the volcanologist blew his mind and other parts of his body. 

Around thirty seconds after Jensen's own release started, Jared felt his own pleasure start to peak, it was akin to being hurled off a cliff, only to land in a vat of Ecstasy. Every single part of his body tingled with rapture and joy. His own ejaculation spewed out into his boyfriend's body, not only filling him to the brim, but it seeped out around his softening dick. He guessed that this is what it felt like to be high on heroin or the like. His toes curled in his hiking boots and his eyes rolled back in his head. He was definitely in love. 

Once the two men caught their breath, Jared peeled himself off of Jensen's back and striped his undershirt off to clean them up, while Jensen tried to get his chest unstuck from the table. Which was gross and harder than it looked. After successfully pulling himself up from the adhesion, Jensen flipped over on his back to let Jared wipe the glue-like substance off his whole torso.

They dressed with silly grins and intimate caresses until Jared picked up the carbon monoxid e detector and the seismograph  up off the ground. One was smashed to pieces, explaining that to Dr Morgan was going to be fun and the CO2 detector had switched off on impact. Turning it back on and the lights and noise started to go ballistic. Both scientist looked at each other with wide eyes, before taking off at a dead run to retrieve the spare equipment from the trunk inside the supply tent. 

Jensen booted up his computer and retrieved his cell to over 30 messages, all from Jeff. 

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Jared pulled at his hair and shout towards the sky. 

"Yeah, well that's what got us into this cluster fuck! There goes my doctorate!" The older man raised his voice louder than he meant to. He was just on board as Jared was when it came to sex. 

Suddenly, there was a loud rumble and the earth started shaking. Both scientists grabbed each other and waited for the earthquake to stop. There was a strong smell of molten  lava in the air and then Jensen’s cell started ringing. 

"Jeff? Yes we are fine... No my phone never rang and the equipment never gave us any warning." The older man held up a finger to silence Jared and continued," I have no idea sir. The equipment went crazy seconds before the quake... Are you sure? Damn it, the laptop and CO2 detector was rocked off the table and shattered. We'd understand. We will be right there."

Jensen picked up the laptop and smashed it to bits, he removed the processor and stomped it into the ground while Jared stared at him with eyes the size  of dinner plates. Next, the CO2 detector was similarly crushed and placed in his back pack 

"What did he say?' Jared questioned once he found his voice. 

"The earthquake was an 7.5 on the Richter scale and  Nyiragongo erupted. The town of  Goma is covered in an ash cloud and it ’ s too late to evacuate. If we'd known an hour earlier  we could have saved hundreds of people. As of right now, 300 people are missing and there is no telling how many buildings have been destroyed. We need to leave right now, before the carbon monoxide reaches us."

"But we can help, this is all my fault..." Jared was near hysterics as he held his head and bent at the waist, placing his head between his knees to stave off hyperventilation. 

"Jared! It's too late. We will die from the gases! Jeff said to leave now and to wear our charcoal filtered masks. There's nothing we can do to right now, just learn from our mistakes. " Jensen gently helped Jared upright and then shook him to get him to come to his senses. 

"This is all my fault. I shouldn't be worried about  my own life. People are dead...” Jared's tears rolled down his cheeks as he quietly sobbed. 

"People die every day. W e may have been able to save them and maybe not. But you walk in there and you will die. Future people will die if we can't study this eruption."

*******

Jared finally got into the Jeep and Jensen drove 80+miles an hour for hours. He finally stopped when exhaustion took over and he was sure that they were out of danger. Jared hadn't spoken the whole ride, no matter how times his boyfriend tried to engage him conversation. 

The small inn that they stopped at had lacked modern luxuries that they were used to, but it had a bed and a bathroom with a hot shower, which to Jensen was all they needed. He coaxed the younger man into the bathroom and gave him a shower like he might treat a small toddler, before tucking him into bed. 

As the night wore on, he held the sobbing man until the older man couldn't keep his eyes open, and finally let  sleep  take him. 

*******

The next day dawned brightly and like nothing had happened in the world. Nothing except that Jared's side of the bed was cool to the touch. A trip to the bathroom showed that he wasn't there and all of his belongings were gone. 

The desk clerk said that he saw a tall man in his early twenties board the bus that stopped nearby. No note, no nothing. All Jensen could do was sit down on the curb and cry. 


	2. Chapter 2

April 28, 2007 

Mount Baker, Washington 

0700

There was a saying in the Boy scouts of America, “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle,” and Jared Padalecki embraced this with his entire being. Of course, if his fellow Scouts knew he was gay, he'd be kicked out of the ranks, but that hardly mattered in this small Washington town where Jared taught Jr. High Science, led the local Boy Scout troop and hadn't so much as looked at another person in a romantic way in five years. 

The late spring morning had yielded temperate climates, even this high in altitude and was shaping up into the perfect day for his troop of  Webelos to identify some of the local terrain and survival skills necessary for their current patrol patches. 

Jared's cap was pulled down low over his eyes to block the hazy sunshine that peaked through the clouds and had created a blanket of fog along the Squall line of this particular volcano. 

Washington was never Jared's first choice of places to call home, but after the disaster in Guam, he knew that Jensen would likely never forgive him. He'd foolishly thought that he loved Jensen enough that despite the eccentric and often single-minded focus of the older scientist, love would  have  been enough to keep them together. 

It had not been and Jared was too dangerous and too selfish to encroach on Jensen's life and his love of the often violent and dangerous beauty of volcanoes. So he had walked away, finishing up his BS and then quietly moved on with his life. But one thing that Jared had selfishly grown fond of ove r the years was the passion that Jensen had for high altitudes and the cataclysmic destruction that lay just below the surface of these dangerous ruptures of fire and ash. 

"Mr. Padalecki, Mr. Padalecki!" An out of  breath and slightly over weight, twelve-year-old , Tommy Fuller , had panted out as he descended the small trail that his troop had marched up not fifteen minutes before. Jared was used to Tommy's over active imagination and his ability to turn the phrase worst  - case scenario on its ear. 

"Tommy? Where's the fire?" Jared calmly said, laying his over-sized hands on the young boy's shoulders and slowing him down. He chuckled while Tommy caught his breath and then coaxed the scout to tell him  what was wrong. "Alright, Tommy. What’s the matter? Aliens this time? Or maybe bears?"

The volcano that they happened to be on was part of a state funded nature preserve that was generally devoid of any predators that would be a threat to the troop. Black Bears and coyotes being the most common foe that they could encounter and who were just as afraid of them, unprovoked.

"We found a dead squirrel!" The words whooshed out of slightly pink and flushed cheeks in rapid fire and Jared bit back  the impulse to cover the preteen boys mouth to stop him from hyperventilating. Jared was certain that the higher ground as well as his overexcitement were both responsible for Tommy's labored breathing. 

"You didn't touch it , did you? You boys know better than that. Dead animals can carry all kinds of diseases." Jared was sure that he had had this discussion with this particular troop at least ten times since school had started in the fall. 

"No, Mr . Padalecki, but that's not all we found. There were at least five more and then we found a couple of dead badgers." Tommy was still nearly vibrating and Jared let out a sigh. 

"Slow down, Tommy. Now, I'm sure you are over reacting. Do you remember the camping trip last summer where you boys were sure that you saw aliens, when  it turned out to be the Aurora Borealis , which was the whole reason for the trip." He asked with a smile. There had been eight boys who had been one hundred percent sure that they were about ten seconds from being abducted. 

Tommy frowned at being reminded of how much it had stung when they'd found out that it was just gases causing the lights and colors to swirl  around in the sky. "But Mr. P.,” To mmy started again, "I promise. We are sure this time!"

Jared shoved his bangs back from his eyes, which had slid forward while he was looking down at the barely five foot tall scout and rubbed at his brow. The damp precipitation had caused his hair to curl around his ears and he readjusted his cap on his head. 

"Okay," the unconvinced teacher said, "lead the way." He moved his arm in a sweeping arc and gestured back up the path. 

Tommy wasted no time scurrying back up the incline and Jared didn't really have the patience to slow the boy down again. He just increased his stride, his long legs easily keeping pace with those of his charge. 

What awaited the teacher at the top was not what he had been expecting and he crouched down to take in the scene before him. The fresh water spring was virtually full of dead wildlife from bugs to,  as Tommy had said, squirrels. Jared gasped at the over powering smell of sulfur and carbon dioxide and grabbed his handkerchief to hold over his mouth. 

The other boys were staring at the corpses with a sort of morbid curiosity that only boys of that age possessed. A thousand and one thoughts rushed through the scout leader's head as he quickly rushed to get their attention. 

"Guys, I need you to stay calm and I need y ou to listen to me for a second." He  focused on keeping his voice commanding, but even. "Now, has anyone filled your canteen up from this spring?"

The confused young men shook their heads, one by one until Jared let out a breath of relief. "Okay guys, we are going to go back down the trail to the bus and then we are going back to the school. Calmly, single file like we always do."

"Why are we leaving?" Eleven-year-old Cody Mayes asked. He was the youngest and smallest of the troop, almost two whole feet shorter than Jared himself. But whatever  Cody lacked in size, he more than made up for in stubbornness and his outspokenness. He was loud and at times bossy and Jared wondered if he asked questions in his sleep.

Jared didn't like lying to the kids in his care. He figured that he told enough lies by omission on any given day, that he really couldn't afford any more bad karma. However,  if he was right?  _ You know you're right _ .  Jensen's lower register said in his head, then he had to get these boys off this ridge. 

"Remember when we talked about diseases and the things that wild animals carry? Well, that could make you boys extremely ill and we don't want t hat." Jared really wasn't lying. W hat killed the animals was extremely harmful, but it just wasn't a disease, per se. 

Halfway down the trail, keeping the boys focused on reciting Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species of local nature that they came in contact with was a way to keep the boys focused. It was something that his grandfather, who was also an Eagle  Scout had taught Jared from the time that he had learned to speak until his death , when Jared was 17. He lived just long enough to see Jared earn his final badges before finally succumbing to a particularly painful and long battle with pancreatic cancer. 

Some of Jared's favorite memories were spent in the Pacific Coast Ranges in the summer, where his grandfather had  retired to. His g randfather had become an Eagle S cout before becoming a Forest Ranger after World War II. They would camp out under the stars and live off the land from late May until September, when Texas would beckon him home. 

He had enrolled in the University of Oregon, not because of geology, but to follow in the footsteps of his late grandfather. Jared felt the old man's death so acutely that he had spent the entire summer after in the wilds of Oregon's mountains. He had applied to college  there well before his passing and walked out of the woods just two days before he'd met Jensen. 

Jensen spoke about volcanoes with such a passion that it reminded  him a little of the way the forest used to make him feel, alive and vibrant. They spoke to him in a way that  Jared couldn't get the forest to anymore. He'd spend hours reading seismic graphs and looking at satellite images of thermal scans without ever getting bored. They'd spend hours in the same ranges that Jared had grown up in. But now instead of just seeing the trees and the local wildlife, Jared had started seeing the beauty in the earth itself. The rocks and destructive properties that were just beneath the crust of the earth began to paint a world that he once loved back in vivid colors from the gray that they had become. 

At the center of all of it was  Jensen, as beautiful as the forest had ever been. His eyes exact shade always changing from the light color of Ponderosa Pines, to the too green shade of hemlocks depending on his mood. Jared often found it odd that two boys from Texas had found each other all the way in Oregon, both with a different but no less intense love for the same set of mountains. 

"Mr. P.?" Tyler Westin said quietly, just loud enough that Jared could hear him over the din of the troop and their slight butchering of their current song, due to their puberty impacted voices refusing to even entertain the illusion of pitch or key. "Those animals and bugs?"

Jared turned and looked at the tall, thin boy. Tyler had recently had a growth spurt, he was probably around five-foot-five and Jared could tell the 13-year-old was going to be tall. If not as tall as Jared himself, he'd at least be as tall as Jensen. The normally quiet and observant boy was the only one in the troop that Jared was sure of would earn his Eagle Scout rank. He tackled every lesson with fierce determination and a laser focus that reminded him of himself at his age. "Yes, Tyler?"

"Its not a disease is it? I mean, diseases don't normally cross species of animals and even if they do, what about the insects and the plants?" The young boy furrowed his brow and Jared stared at him, unable to speak to deny it. Jared slightly shook his head and allowed the rest of the boys to march further down the path before he gestured for the boy to continue, but quietly. "What could do that?" The boys own green eyes were too light to remind of Jensen's, but they were every bit as perceptive as the man he once and if he was truthful, still loved. 

"Its not a disease, no." The older male confirmed and then lowered his voice again. "Think about what else is here, Tyler." Jared hadn't wanted to scare the boy, but if he was right, then the whole area was going to have to be evacuated anyway. Tyler was a smart, calm young man. He would not give into panic or hysteria and he'd be valuable at getting the rest of the boys out of harms way if something were to happen. The thing was, without the proper equipment, Jared didn't know if they had hours or months. 

"That smell, like rotten eggs...I t ’s the volcano. "  _Smart boy, no wonder you like him, Jay_ _._ Jensen said in Jared's mind, and he mentally shushed him. Since when had Jensen become Jared's conscience? Oh right, when his dumb ass had moved to Washington to be close to a mostly dormant volcano, that decided it didn't want to be dormant anymore. 

Jared's eyes had always betrayed him and Tyler missed a step at the confirmation that they were on a literal powder keg. Jared grabbed the teen's elbow to steady him before whispering, "I need you calm, Tyler. We are going to be fine, but we have to get off this volcano and I have to get this to the USGS." His other hand patted the plastic water bottle that he had collected the murky colored spring water in. 

Tyler breathed and then nodded at the older scientist, shoulders now squared and jaw set. He picked up his pace to fall in behind the boys who had gained ground on them a moment before. 

Now that one crisis was temporary averted, Jared took out his satellite phone and exhaled. He only brought it with them in the case of emergencies and it only had two numbers programmed into it. One was local fire and rescue, which was the equivalent of 9-1-1 in their small town and the other was a hold over from his days with Jensen, a number of one of the first early detection systems in the world. 

The NVEWS, National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System was decades still in the future, but part of Jensen's thesis had been on making sure that the US had some type of system in place for over 160 active volcanoes that America was home to. Jensen had started in Oregon and quickly added neighboring Washington and Nevada to the list. Jared hadn't really kept up with it intentionally, but being at the science department at Washington had made it nearly impossible to miss the chatter from the geology students. 

The phone powered on, the rubber casing heavy and virtually indestructible. It was nothing like the phones that were becoming smaller and more compact every day. No, this thing had been made to last and do one thing and one thing only, and that was to call for help. 

It took longer for it to call out, probably because of the number of satellites and antiquated technology in this day and age, but  then it finally rang. Only two rings were completed until a strong, male voice answered, "University of Washington, USGS. This is Murray." Chad Michael Murray's voice sounded the same as it had three years  ago, the last time Jared heard it. 

"Chad, it's me," Jared stared. 

"This better not be a crank call, Padalecki. We aren't the IRS, but we are still the government and you've got a lot of fucking nerve." The man wasted no time tearing into the scout leader. 

"Listen Chad," Jared didn't have time for pleasantries. 

"That's Dr. Murray to you, you asshole."

"Dr. Murray, then, it’s Mount Baker. Pull up the thermal imaging." Jared said lowly into the phone. He could hear Tyler singing with the rest of his troop, several yards in front of him. 

"How do you know?" Chad said, harshly and almost uninterested. 

"Because I'm on it right now. Dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide, all the flora and fauna are dead around a thousand feet before the tree line..." Jared didn't have time for this. "Are you listening? I'm serious!"

"So it wasn't enough that you barricaded yourself up in that fucking mountain range after he died, but you come crawling back five years ago like nothing happened, begging me to let you stay with me. Then you just up and disappear on me again. Fuck you, Jared! What are you even doing? You're not a volcanologist or a geologist. Hell, you teach science to a bunch of  tweens," Chad was clearly still angry with him. 

"Okay, look. I'll let you have a free swing at me. But if I'm right, and I know I am, then you know that we are sitting on a major fault line. The earthquake and the landslide if this thing goes  is going to kill thousands of people, and we are looking at an eruption ten times greater than Mount Saint Helens. I know you have no reason to believe me, but you have to call Morgan." Jared was practically pleading. 

"It's Saturday morning, which means that only three people are manning the Cascades, but let me call up to the CVO and get some read outs. Just get off the ridge and at safe distance." Chad instructed and Jared breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding as the call ended without any warning. Let Chad be mad. As long as they got help here, he didn't care how mad he was. The CVO stood for the David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory and that was Jared's best chance. 


	3. Chapter 3

April 28, 2007

Eugene, Oregon

1100

To say that Dr. Jensen Ackles hated spring was slightly inaccurate. He liked spring just fine. It was the culmination of all the procrastination and the feet dragging of his grad students who would try to cram months and months of research into two weeks. Then, they'd expect to fool him to thinking that they hadn't built their thesis on high fives and dreams. He'd be forced to either decide if he wanted to take the chance on seeing them again the next semester or just sending them out into the world to do a half-assed job on a larger scale. 

Not to mention, that Jeffrey had taken off as soon as the Kamchatka Peninsula Volcanoes had started sputtering days ago. Which was a cop out, since Russia had two of the most temperamental volcanoes on the planet. They were all plume and flair and then they'd fizzle out days later just to start all over again in just a few months. This left Jensen to grade papers and sit through presentations and he just wanted to scream. This was not what Jensen had become a volcanologist for and certainly not why he'd wasted all that time and money earning all the initials and the title. But his heart wasn't in much of anything lately. 

Sure, it had taken an intervention on  Danneel and Chris' behalf, a couple of months at the bottom of a whiskey bottle and some very creative and spontaneous redecorating (which entailed smashing everything in his house with a sledge hammer because it all reminded him of Jay) before Jeff talked him into finishing his  Ph.d and taking that job at the University of Oregon. Technically, it was a federally funded program, but with all the hoops and red tape, Jensen wasn't sure it made a difference. 

But seeing as this was Saturday, he had approximately one day of rest left before he had to get back to the excuses and the breakdowns of the student body that were inevitable. Right now, all he wanted to be was drink and maybe sleep some before Monday. 

He had just gotten comfortable on the couch, with the Discovery Channel and his favorite Bourbon when his phone rang. He debated just not answering for two rings before he decided that he probably should, what if it was Jeff.

*******

Jensen was not a skittish flier, he'd flown halfway around the globe at the drop of a hat, but the young Air Force Pilot flying the helicopter out of Fort Lewis, looked younger than some of his t-shirts. He wasn't just young, he looked extremely nervous and Jensen was having a hard time figuring out just what could make someone who had made it through flight school that antsy. 

It wasn't until the white cap of Baker came into view that the young Lieutenant, whose name was Donnelley, spoke to him. "Is it true, sir? Could that thing erupt?"

Jensen's sunglasses hid his expression, which he was sure was  doozie, and he debated making the young man sweat for calling him 'sir'. He was in his thirties, barely, and it was probably protocol for someone of his title to be called sir, but it just made him feel ancient. 

"I wouldn't worry too much, lieutenant, it was called in by an amateur. There has been some activity on the thermal scans and there is seismic activity, but that's expected from an active volcano." Jensen tried to sound reassuring, but he had slipped into what Jeff called his condescending voice. Which wasn't really condescending at all, he just sounded outright bored as of late. 

"Active?" The young pilot asked. His face was half obscured by the visor of his helmet, but Jensen could have sworn that he paled noticeably. 

"Do you see that big beautiful mountain peak?" Jensen rolled his eyes, knowing that the soldier couldn't see them, "that is an active volcano. One of five active in this state, actually." It wasn't Jensen's fault that this man didn't know that he lived in an area that was high risk. "This whole area is called the Pacific Ring of Fire and most of your Volcano activity and earthquakes occur here."

"Ring of fire, sir?" The young man visibly swallowed and Jensen bit his cheek to keep from laughing. When did he become such an asshole? That's right, five years ago. 

The volcanologist made a U-shape with his right hand. "See lieutenant, in about a 41,000 kilometer area, from the bottom tip of South America, up along Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Canada," Jensen traced the inner edges of index finger before continuing around the u to the bottom of his thumb. "Alaska, Russia, which started erupting a few days ago, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and down into Antarctica. There are about 450 volcanoes there, but I'm sure that it ’s fine. We haven't had a major eruption since  1980\. You remember Mount Saint Helens, right?"

"I wasn't born yet," the pilot said, looking a little sheepish. 

"Ah, I guess not," Jens en shrugged and licked his lips. "L ook kid, Saint Helens has been rumbling for about three years and my money is on her erupting first. But the last time I gambled, I lost, so I don't really li ke betting against Mother Na ture."

The rest of the helicopter ride was made in silence and Jensen couldn't help it if schools taught next to nothing about seismic activity and volcanoes. Just because modern times had seen but a handful of cataclysm events, that didn't mean that they wouldn't happen. The human race was in its infancy compared to the earth and Jensen was of the school that the earth would be here long after we were gone, too. 

Once Jensen stepped out onto the makeshift helipad at the University of Washington, he felt a little better about being here. Washington had adapted part of the early response equipment because the 1980 eruptions had still left a fresh wound on those who were from the area and Jeff remembering it went a long way to getting the funding necessary to put it in place. 

That was, he felt better until he saw him, dressed in pair of worn in jeans, a windbreaker and a ball cap. His hiking boots looked the same, but his five o'clock shadow and his loss of softness told Jensen that he wasn't hallucinating. He was currently talking  to  Dr. Murray, it looked quiet and familiar and Jensen saw red. 

The volcanologist strode right up the steps of the observatory and delivered a right hook to the man in question’s jaw. Jared, caught unaware until Chad was pulling Jensen off of him, stumbled momentarily but didn't fall. Tears stung behind his eyes his lip was already swelling, with a vague taste of copper in his mouth. 

Chad, who was several inches shorter than Jensen, had his hands full keeping the volcanologist from punching the taller man again. "Stop it, Dr. Ackles. Natural disaster and  all that going down. You can beat up the Jr. High Science teacher, later. I'll even hold him for you."

Jared straightened, wiping his mouth and then smiled, "Only the first one is free, Dr. Ackles."

Jensen shoved against the blonde's hold and Chad let out a frustrated, "He's not worth it. Besides, he's the one who called it in."

That stilled the older man and he finally stopped struggling. "What was he doing? Amateur geology? Or are you here to get a whole town killed again?"

Jared openly flinched at that. His gaze on his shoes and Jensen felt his own face heat up. He was just as guilty as Jared was that night, truth be told, and he never lost focus anymore on research. Not for anyone. 

"I had my troop of  Webelos up there, hiking. All the vegetation, and animals, even insects are dead before you even get to the  timber line . Strong sulfur dioxide and I brought spring water back," Jared held up the water bottle with the specimen in it and Jensen took it out of his hand. 

"I forgot that you were an Eagle Scout," Jensen said softly, if he was perfectly honest, he hadn't forgotten at all. He remembered in crystal clarity every detail about the man before him. He remembered not knowing for six months about the Eagle Scout rank until they'd gotten caught in a  snow storm while Jensen was trying to get seismic readings before the freeze. 

If Jared hadn't been with him, he'd have never found the Ranger's Station and Jensen would have frozen to death. They spent a solid week up there before help could clear the pass and get to them. It was the first and last time Jared had spoken of his grandfather and how all he'd ever wanted to do was to become a ranger. 

Jensen should have suspected that he was as broken as he was. There was so much that Jared wouldn't tell him and sometimes he'd have that vacant look in his eyes. But then he'd look at him like he hung the moon and tell him that he loved him and Jensen would forget that maybe Jared only cared about volcanoes because he did. And so what if he did. Wasn't that enough? He liked something just because Jensen did, wasn't that romantic in a way? And if Jensen never encouraged Jared to find something that he was passionate about, did that mean that it was Jensen's fault? Nope, he wasn't a mind reader and he would  have loved Jared no matter what. If he'd  only stayed. 

But that was five years ago, and obviously Jared had gotten on its his life and never once tried to get in touch, when he was within a couple of hundred miles away. Besides, Jared was not the expert here and he wasn't his boyfriend and he had no business being around this time. So Jensen swallowed any notion that this was anything more than a coincidence and stuck out his hand. "Thank you for calling it in Mr. Padalecki, we will take it from here."

Jared stared at the man he'd spent every waking hour trying to  forget's outstretched hand. He allowed his gaze to drink in the chiseled features that had turned from being almost pretty unto those of a grown man. His jaw line was wider and his hair slightly longer, less artfully styled, but those green eyes were still the color of fur trees and evergreens and if anything, Jensen had gotten more attractive. "I'd like to help if I could Dr. Ackles, this is my home and you need an experienced guide."

"No, absolutely not. You're not qualified, and I'll never make that mistake again." Jensen dropped his hand and shook his head, turning towards Chad. "No."

"Now wait a minute, Jensen, Jared grew up in these mountains and knows them as well as anyone we could get from the Forest Service. It would save time and that ’s what's important, regardless of our personal feelings towards him. Every second could count." Chad rubbed his hands through his hair and down his face. He couldn't believe that he was even suggesting this. 

*******

Once the equipment and gear was loaded up into the USGS Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jensen stopped Chad at the rear of the vehicle. "So, what are you? Another jilted lover?"

Chad's face twisted up in an incredulous scowl. "I'm not gay. We grew up together, our grandfathers were friends." 

Jensen felt his own face turn scarlet and burn all the way to the roots of his hair. When did he become a grade  A asshole? Scaring kids who were just doing their jobs and offending  his colleagues? "I'm sorry man. I didn't mean to offend you."

Chad waved him off, "I'm not a homophobe, its just he's more like a brother to me. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are a jilted lover."

"Something like  that , he walked out on me five years ago. I had no idea if he was even alive ." Jensen hated how pathetic and hurt he still sounded. 

"Yeah, well, he did it to me, twice. So, you hold him and I'll hit him, when this all said and done? Dr. Ackles?" Chad offered him his hand. 

"Deal, Dr. Murray." Jensen smiled at the man and they shook on it. "Wait, if you grew up in these woods, then aren't you just as good of a guide?"

Chad shook his head. "First of all, I was never an Eagle Scout, never made it that far. Plus, I haven't been in so me of these woods in a decade. He's been living here for the past three years. So he's way more qualified."

"Fair enough, but he gets us up there to the soil and water samples and then we make a call on evacuation or not. There is a high probability that the chain reaction from the volcano will cause an earthquake and or a landslide. The whole fault line could go." Jensen offered. 

Chad's only reaction was to smile and say, "That’s what Jay said."

"No, he's our guide up there and back down, but I'm the expert and I don't need him and his inexperience fucking this up. That's the deal. Now take it, or let me call a guide." Jensen said with an air  of  finality and then opened up the passenger door and got into the vehicle in front of the man in question without turning around. 

The drive up the mountain was quiet. The tension between the former lovers was thick and hung like a storm cloud. Chad didn't do anything to lighten the mood or to make it more bearable. He just drove efficiently and quickly up the mountain side until the road came to an end and then he parked. 

All three men packed up their backpacks, and several pieces of gear, before Jared took point leading them up the trail. The higher altitude had already made their breathing harder and the pressure in Jensen's ears was like being under water. 

"The samples or the readouts, first?" Jared paused and waited for Jensen to make the decision. 

"The samples, they are higher up. We can check the seismometers, seismograph and the Geiger counter on the way back down." The older man pointed up the incline of the trail. Jared grabbed the straps of his back pack and started walking in a measured stride that Jensen recognized. He knew that the younger man always knew just how far he had walked and how much distance he had left to walk in a place that he been before. It was a useful skill for a geologist to have and Jensen had been extremely impressed that a college freshman had mastered it already. He hadn't thought past the fact that Jared had told him he'd always wanted to study geology. It was just another lie by omission, where Jared had probably learned it from the Forest Ranger that he spent summers with, as it was a valuable skill to have before pedometers became common. 

The first few hundred feet up went smoothly, until they had begun getting closer to the timber line and the oxygen was replaced with carbon and sulfur dioxide. The sun was still high in the sky as the trio climbed higher and higher. They had foregone any conversation, as all available oxygen was needed just to make the trek up and back down. 

The scene at the spring was just as Jared had left it some six hours earlier, when he had marched his troop back down the hill and to one of the designated shelter areas off the ridge. Vegetation had turned brown and wilted, there was a large Sugar pine that had lost all of its needles and was wilted like a Weeping Willow in the path of the spring. Jensen removed specimen containers and the three men wordlessly placed rock, corpses , and yellowing vegetation into the bags. 

When they were finally finished, the sun had sunk low in the sky as the three men began back down the hill towards the instruments that could be used to track the activity in the volcano. Most of the instrumentation was linked to a satellite and would upload automatically to the USGS' computers that Jeffrey or anyone who had access could see. But there were a few finely tuned instruments that were completely manual in the event that an earthquake, landslide or any other cataclysmic event that could knock the digital ones outs. Most were impossible to knock off line, but if it did happen, using these manual ones would be invaluable tools for graphing the seismic data needed to predict future eruptions.

The concrete and steel tunnels that housed these sensors, guaranteed that it would be protected from magma, ash clouds and any of the gasses that an eruption could release out into the atmosphere. Jensen unlocked the latches that held the top on the first sensor and descended the small rungs of the ladder that was inside. Documentation was retrieved quarterly for Mount Baker by the Forestry Service or USGS personnel and could contain up to several months of data. 

Jensen was lucky as it hadn't yet been thirty days since it had been retrieved. He placed the stack of printouts in his back pack and ascended back up the ladder to where Jared was holding the  flash light . It was almost like old times, when Jensen would be sent out to retrieve these reports and he and Jared would camp out under the stars in the nicer weather. 

Jensen shook those thoughts away, those two young men were not here anymore and until there was a decision made on the evacuation of the town, Jensen was keeping his hands to himself. Hmmm, how had he gone from keeping his hands to himself indefinitely to keeping his hand to himself after the danger had passed? He rolled his eyes at himself and they continued until all five of the manual sensors had the contents retrieved.

The trio was almost to the Jeep, when the ground gave a half - hearted shake and began to crack along the trail. They started to run and then suddenly the rock split open in a grumbling roar that deafened them and Jared heard Chad yell out.

There was a thundering crack and then it sounded like a herd of horses, taking the last turn at the Kentucky Derby, as rocks of all sizes started rolling down the hill. Jared covered his head and sprinted towards their vehicle as boulders the size of basketballs came bouncing down the path.

Jared tried to help Chad up on his feet, only to have the man fall down to one knee and then gasp as Jared saw clearly that the man's left ankle was broken. It was a twisted and gnarly fracture, parts of bone jutting out of the skin and blood pooling on the ground at their feet. Instinct took over and Jared ripped his outer shirt off to staunch the flow of blood as he lifted his childhood friend up in a fireman's carry. Chad groaned but otherwise stayed quiet as Jared tried again to make it to the Jeep. 

The ground violently rattled again and more fissures in the path opened up into yawning chasms. The unsteadiness of the footing caused Jared to go down to a knee, before Jensen was grabbing at him and helping to take some of the blonde's weight. 

They dodged and weaved towards the vehicle, as dust and rocks continued to rain down. Jensen pulled open the door and settled Chad in the back and pushed Jared in the back with him. "He needs first aid and you have more badges than  I do." The volcanologist was screaming to be heard over the roaring around them as he dove into the driver seat and started the car. 

Chad was clammy and looked pale in he low light. Jared didn't think he'd lost too much blood, so he suspected that the quiet nature and the way the man's ankle looked, it was shock. He took his windbreaker out of his backpack and tried to warm the man in the backseat up as he whispered words of reassurances towards him. 

Gravel was flying around the car tires and Jensen slammed the accelerator all the way and down and drove around falling tree limbs and large rocks. The headlights were barely making a dent through the dirt and dust. 

Jensen yelled to get Jared's attention. "Jay, you have to call Jeff and evacuate the town, I can't drive and call, its too dangerous." Just then a large rock rolled right in their path and Jensen yanked the steering wheel and the sent the Jeep into a skid. The passenger side door caught on the rock and Jared winced as he heard the metal crinkle up like a paper wad all down that side. Jensen never slowed down. He just kept descending down the winding road until the entire path was blocked with debris from the rock slide. He pulled the wheel again and it sent the vehicle careening off into the under brush and out onto the highway. 

The road was littered with ash already and Jensen pushed the accelerator to the floor again. Then small rocks started to rain down on them like hail and one broke the windshield, which splintered like a spider web until he couldn't see anymore. "Jared, call Jeff!" Jensen said sternly as he slapped the cruise control on and proceed ed to use his feet to kick out the ruined glass.  The glue that normally kept the windshield from shattering on impact was keeping it from coming all the way out and the older man had his head out the driver window as he continued to kick and stomp at the mess that had quickly turned into wadded up saran wrap and the next time Jensen's steel toed boot struck the surface, the glass came free on one side, just to boomerang back the other way shred the passenger side of the hood and fender .

Jared guessed that whomever the USGS had their insurance with was going to freak out. Once the terrain smoothed out s l ightly, Jared grabbed Chad's satellite phone and started looking for Jeff in the contacts. 

"Morgan!" Jeff rumbled into the earpiece and the wind whipping into the car from the absence of the front glass made it almost impossible to hear over. "Chad!"

"Dr. Morgan, Chad’s hurt." Jared yelled and didn't give the man  time to act. "Evacuate the town! She's coming down. Evacuate the town now!" 

"Who the hell is this?" Jeff said once more and Jared was losing patience quickly. 

"It's Jared! Chad's hurt, and Jensen is driving. Tell him Jen!" He said loudly and angled the phone over the seat. 

"Jeff! Jeff listen, evacuate the town, now!" Jensen screamed in the direction of the phone and then went back to driving like a bat out hell, which Jared supposed was about as accurate as a metaphor could be. 

"Oh shit, oh shit!" He heard the older man as he angled his head to see out of his shattered side mirror. Jared turned his head around and wished he hadn't. The pavement was falling in on itself and the lava beneath it was glowing red and an angry orange and it was gaining on them quickly. 

"Faster, Ackles!" Jared leaned forward, cradling the unresponsive man in his arms as if that would cause the car to accelerate. "Faster! The bridge!"

"I'm going as fast as I can! W hat bridge?" Jensen yelled behind him as he coaxed the car on. He saw the road split and just turned the wheel at the last possible second and the difference in the angle of the bridge sent the car airborne. Jared would have sworn that time slowed down and sped up at the same time as they sailed through the air for what seemed like forever until it finally came down hard on the other side. 

As predicted, the water under the bridge delayed the deterioration of the road and they were able to get far enough ahead of it to make it the rest of the way to the town.

*******

The scene they arrived to looked like it was straight out of a riot movie, cars were stopped along the road as townspeople were looting and smashing things and fighting in the street s. Jared's jaw was on the floor board of the car as he noticed people that he saw everyday acting like they were possessed by demons. 

Closer to the hospital he noticed the shape of two older boys pounding on Tyler Westin by the supermarket. "Stop the car, Jen!" He said, loudly.

"What are you boys, doing?" Jared yelled but they managed to run away and leave a very bruised and very disoriented thirteen-year-old boy standing there, rubbing his cheek. "Tyler Westin!"

Tyler looked at the passenger side of the car and said, "Mr. P? What happened to your car?"

"Jensen, let him in." Jared said softly. 

Jensen rolled his eyes and  proceeded to get out of the car.  "Tyler Westin, Dr. Jensen Ackles, resident volcanologist and NASCAR enthusiast."

"They don't normally crash in NASCAR," Tyler let out a low whistle at the missing windshield and dents all in the metal. "Where'd you learn to drive, Dr?"

"Grand Theft, Auto! You getting in or what?" Jensen asked, trying to hide a smile and failing miserably. Tyler only nodded and climbed across the front seat and into the passenger side. 

"Wait, volcanologist? Then I was right?" Tyler glanced back to look at Jared and then as if just noticing Chad , his eyes got big. 

"What does he mean he was right?" Jensen demanded looking from one to the other. 

"Tyler figured out that it was the volcano this morning on our hike, right after I did. Since I learned from the best, I'd say Tyler is a quick study.” Jared smiled briefly before saying, "Tyler, this is Dr. Murray. He and Dr. Ackles are both from the USGS and we need to get Dr. Murray on an ambulance or something."

"You sure he didn't figure it out before you?" Jensen questioned the taller man, with no real heat behind it. 

Tyler shook his head and said, "No sir, Dr. Ackles. Mr. P. had already taken samples and was getting us down the off the ridge when I figured it out. I kept thinking that the smell was awful and I couldn't remember where I had smelled it. Then it hit me, it smelled exactly like the water whe re my grandmother lived in the  Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee. The well water smelled like that until they finally piped it in from a cleaner source. But that fresh spring has never smelled like that, so when I finally figured out that it was sulfur, I knew it had to be the volcano."

"Not bad, kid. Interested in volcanoes?" Jensen asked, while starting the car. 

"I'm interested in anything that will help me get into college, sir." The teen said, almost in a whisper. 

"Tyler is one of the smarted kids in my seventh grade class. He's going to be an Eagle Scout, some day."

Tyler's face heated up and Jensen almost felt bad for the kid. "If I can find away to pay for it, that is."

"I told you to not worry about that. You focus on learning everything you can and I'll make sure your dues are paid." Jared shook his head at Jensen's less that subtle look and mouthed 'later.'

“ So Tyler, where'd you learn about the sulfur dioxide?" Jensen said, in a conversational tone as he coaxed the car amount the throng of people towards the hospital. 

"Mr. P. teaches  an earth science class for one of our badges. He let me borrow a couple of his books." The teenager replied and leaned back in the seat. 

"Really? Hmmm," Jensen said. It was just like the younger man to try and educate kids about the land they lived on. Just like his grandfather had taught him, except Jared had known next to nothing about geology when they had met. But he could kick Jensen's ass in the study of natural sciences, what to eat, how to build a shelter, first aide. 

"Tyler, I told the troop to get their families and head south. What are you still doing in town?" Jared asked, surprised that he hadn't listened to him. 

"I tried ,  Mr. P ., but my dad said he couldn't afford to miss work and Richie and Scott wouldn't leave just because you said." The boy looked a little ashamed and that ’s when the emergency sirens started going off. Jared had heard the sirens tested before, but never used here. He found they weren't very pleasant no matter what part of the world they sounded in. 

"Tyler, was that Richie and Scott beating you up?" Jared loathed the two mouth-breathers that were Tyler's brothers. They had been in his classes a couple of years ago and Ty ler was always at their mercy. H is father worked long hours as a mechanic and the boys were often left to their own devices. 

The boy's silence was the onl y agreement that Jared needed. H e shook his head and decided that if they made it out of this, then he was going to have a long talk with those two. 

Jensen rolled the Jeep to a stop outside the emergency room and ran in. The small hospital was in the middle of a full  - scale evacuation and he finally found a young, harried looking doctor and a male nurse to come out and help with Chad. 

"His ankle is broken , compound, complex fracture and I was keeping him warm as he started going into shock." Jared told the men and let them ease him down onto the stretcher. "Someone should go with him," Jared said and immediately looked at Tyler. 

"Only critical patients are being airlifted out right now and only minors can have a guardian with them," the nurse stated. "And we have to do it before the ash cloud gets too bad."

Jared nodded at that but the two men and the thirteen-year-old were back to where they started, getting out of town. "Jen, we need to get down to town hall and help try and organize some of this chaos."

The volcanologist pointedly looked at their passenger and then turned to the younger man. "I'm not leaving without my dad!" Tyler put his hands up and Jensen swore under his breath. 

"Super," he said a little louder and then started the car, "anyone want to point me in the direction of your dad?"

"The garage," Jared said and Jensen shook his head. 

"Any reason that your dad would stay in town during a volcano when it ’ s a mandatory evacuation, kid?" Jensen asked.

"The garage is all he's got. He works as many hours as he can just trying to keep it. " Tyler said, softly. 

Jared understood, he did. They had often run upon people who didn't want to leave because it was their homes. But those people always died and he wasn't letting that happen to Tyler. 

The garage was dark when Jensen pulled up and the doors were locked. Tyler looked confused for a minute and Jared patted him on he back. "Its a mandatory evacuation, Tyler. He's probably at town hall looking for you."

The kid nodded and Jensen put the car in drive. When he got out of bed this morning, he never expected to be in the middle of a full  - scale evacuation, with not only a man that he'd thought he'd never see again but, some random kid that he was now responsible for. As soon as they got out of this mess, he was going on vacation and then he was asking for a raise. 


	4. Chapter 4

April 28, 2007

Glacier City Hall, 

Glacier, Washington 

1700

The tiny town of Glacier boasted a whopping twenty-five hundred people during the summer months, when the ski resort shut down and only the locals were left in town. During the winter months the ski lodge and resort on the top of Mt Baker was busy, seeing as many as five hundred extra people in the town per week. Many of the lodge employees chose to take their own vacations over the summer, while others worked the summer in other parts of the world. 

Had this happened during peak tourist season, the fall out would have been much greater because with the ski lodge open on the south side of the mountain. Those up to five hundred people would have been stranded on the mountain and with the snow covering, the danger of an avalanche or glacier drift became greater and Jared didn't even want to entertain the idea how much worse it could been. 

The only open road that now existed outside of the town was bumper to bumper as nearby Fort Lewis had dispatched the National Guard to help with disaster relief. Jensen felt a little bad about his encounter with the young helicopter pilot and he hoped that the kid  at least was sent to fly the wounded out of the town instead of riot control. 

The three males opened the doors of the small town  hall, that shared its auditorium with the high school and a local church, and walked inside to the building , which was around half-full. There were people asking all kinds of questions and a vey flustered, slightly portly man trying to field them as best he could. 

"How long is the evacuation for?" A woman with slightly auburn hair, a child on her hip, one wrapped around her leg and one pulling on her free arm, asked. Jensen tried not to stare. He understood that there probably wasn't much in the way for entertainment around places like this, but God Damn, try birth control. 

"Ms. Evans," the man that Jensen assumed was the mayor said and made sure to emphasize the Ms. part of her name. Shit, she didn't even have a husband to help. When had he become so damn judgmental? They could have divorced recently, or he could have died or maybe she was gay and these were she and her partner's kids. For that matter, they may not even be all her hers. Jensen scolded himself and approached the front while the mayor continued on. "We understand that you have children as do a lot of our residence and we just don't know..."

Defiantly her kids then, he thought before slipping his wallet out of his pocket  and announcing his presence. "I’ m Dr. Ackles from the USGS and I've been sent here to assess the damage and or make recommendations." The gold badge wasn't really a favorite part of his job, since it granted him zero authority to do anything and was mainly for identification purposes. He was often at the mercy of the mayor or the governor or whatever. Most of the time, he was loaned out to places that were outside the United States, which he supposed was good, but still he had zero use for a badge. 

"How old are you?" The young mother that had been asking about a time frame, said a little snidely. 

"How old are you?" He replied, glancing at her three less than well-behaved offspring. 

"Jensen!" Jared barked. The man turned and looked at his one time partner and wondered how the hell  Jared could live here. Well, he had been all but raised by wolves, so he probably didn't know what social graces were. "Erica, trust me. Dr. Ackles is the best at what he does."

The woman smiled, warmly at Jared and Jensen felt his face get hot and anger well up in his chest. It was ridiculous, he was fairly sure Jared was still one hundred percent gay, so she was nothing to him and even if she was, this was silly. 

"Erica teaches the ungraded primary. " Jared said as way of explanation and then, "that's her daughter." He pointed at the young girl on her hip, with the same shock of dark red hair and brown eyes. "Hi, Kelly!" Jared waved and ended up with an armful of the squirmy, preschooler.

Jensen's eyes  nearly fell out of socket and he wondered momentarily if he was in fact still on his couch, approximately halfway through his the bottle of Angel's Envy and this was a fever dream that he was having as a payback for falling asleep watching a marathon of The History Channel's Perfect Disaster. But no, the abrasions on his hands and the tiredness of his limbs told him that he had in fact outran a rockslide, drove across country and had definitely kicked a windshield out. 

"Where is Jeffrey?" The mayor was asking and just what the fuck?

"Dr . Morgan is currently in Russia. " Jensen heard Jared say and became pissed again. 

"That's unfortunate, his home state has an eruption and he misses it. " Mayor  McRound was saying.

Jensen turned to look at Jared for the hundredth time, trying to assess if this was normal behavior, when Kelly picked that time to grab his face and say, "Pretty!" While smashing his cheeks together like his grandmother used to do when he was a kid. This elicited a peel of laughter from those present and the murderous glare on his face made the child start crying immediately before her mother plucked her out of Jared's arm and therefore out of Jensen's clutches. 

"Okay, excuse me, Mayor...?" Jensen started,  _ let’ s try this one more time. _

"Washington," Jared supplied helpfully. 

"Seriously?" Jensen asked and then shook his head, please let him be drunk and dreaming. "Mayor Washington, I assure you that I am more than qualified to assess the damage and to make recommendations on behalf of Dr. Morgan, who has been my colleague for more than a decade. Furthermore, we have no idea when these things are going to happen, so I'm certain that just as soon as he can, Dr. Morgan will be en route back here to assist with anything that is needed. Now, back to the matter at hand, the town needs to be evacuated as quickly as possible as we have no idea when the eruption will occur."

"Are we even certain that an eruption will happen, Dr.?" A voice from the back of the room said and there was more chatter among the townspeople, with raised voices and Jensen was quickly reaching the end of his rope. 

An earsplitting whistle pierced the air and then Jared was climbing on top of the podium/pulpit and waving his arms. "Listen up!" He yelled and the murmurs finally quieted. "Now, I know we are a small town and keep to ourselves mostly, but everyone here knows me. I've had your child or sibling or some relative in my science class or my Boy Scout troop or I coached their tee ball or basketball team. You can trust me when I say that Dr. Morgan is the absolute best in his field and there is no one that he trusts to take care of his home state than this man right here. He knows what he's talking about and I suggest you listen. Dr. Ackles? You have the floor!" Jared punctuated the statement by jumping down and allowing Jensen to step forward. 

"Okay," feedback from the mic flooded he auditorium and he cleared his throat and tried again, "Okay, questions?" 

The same voice spoke up and said, "How can you be sure that it is going to erupt?"

"Because we knew that when it happened, an earthquake was imminent as well. The earthquakes and landslides have already happened and this whole area is a sitting on a fault line. Now when it happens, you don't want to  be here."

"Will there even be a town to come back to?" A lady in the front row asked and Jensen breathed deep. He could answer these questions. 

"We are looking at a magma chamber bigger than Mt Saint Helen's by about a factor of ten. So given our estimates, the town will not experience a ny of the lava flow. However..." H e knew what questions were coming next, "however, the ash cloud, earthquakes and debris from the eruption, not to mention the dangerous gases will be deadly and are unpredictable."

Grabbing a dry erase marker, he moved to the back of the stage and pulled the white board forward on its wheels. He then drew a triangle that represented the mountain. "When Mount Saint Helen's erupted, the force of the blast caused this whole section of the mountain to explode." He sectioned of a small sliver of the mountain to represent what had been lost. "Now, with Mount Baker, there is ten times more magma in its magma chamber and it could blow this whole section of the mountain off." The line he drew threw his sketched mountain made it concave and there was a gasp in the audience. 

"How long until its safe to return?" Someone else asked. 

"After the initial blast, we will still be collecting seismic data and thermal imaging coming from our sensors. So once the tremors and the aftershocks cease, then we will give the ash cloud time to settle down. There are drones that we can fly over that will measure the air quality. Once those come back clear and  their is no more seismic activity or if it remains a  certain level, we will allow you back in the town."

"But how long will that take?" He heard another person ask. 

"We really don't know. Hopefully within a couple of weeks, but Russia  has two volcanoes that have been constantly erupting for years. So that part isn't an exact science." He could tell the crowd was getting antsy again so he started wrapping it up. "The best  thing that all you folks can do is  trust us. There are a lot of the top minds in the nation, from our field that are on this. So leave in an orderly fashion. Only take the essentials, medications, enough clothing for a few weeks and any valuables that you can't live without. Wedding rings, bonds, documents, not your plasma screen TV or your DVD collection. Things that can not be replaced." 

People began filtering out of the auditorium and he had to say, people were not panicking yet. That would change one the tremors started again and he pulled his laptop out of his bag and pulled up  the thermal images that were transmitting from space. The large angry red area was nearly pulsing on the screen and he pulled up images from this morning. 

Jared wanted to help, but he didn't want to get in Jensen's way. The volcanologist had been right early in the day, he wasn't  an expert and he wasn't even  a Geology major. He taught general sciences, a little chemistry and survival skills to teenagers. So he watched Jensen look over charts and shoved his hands in his pockets when the need to touch him became too much. 

"You're hovering," the older man announced, flipping through more seismic data and readouts from at least four different sources. 

"I want to help, but..." Jared looked a little helplessly at Jensen. 

"Jared, what happened... " Jensen looked up at the man that he once thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with. "... it was just as much my fault as it was yours. Even if we hadn't, you know, there's no way that we had enough warning to evacuate. We do this time. We learned so much from the data that  we  gathered in Guam to put down the warning system so that doesn't happen again." 

Jared wasn't convinced, he rocked back on his heels and Jensen grabbed his forearm and pulled his hand out of his pocket. He then placed the readouts that had come from the manual sensors on the mountain  said, "I could use an extra pair of eyes on these." 

It was an olive branch and Jared wanted to take it so badly. "You don't want amateur hour screwing this up?" Jared removed his cap so the bill wasn’t impeding his eye sight and ran a hand through hair that he should have had cut months ago.

Jared hadn't looked so young since Jensen had gotten there, his eyes were slightly glassy from unshed tears and his unruly hair hung around his face and fanned around his collar. Jensen was staring and for the first time that day, he didn't want to look away. "You were never amateur hour and I shouldn't have said that.  You're are as good at this as I am and I'm sorry that you ever felt like you weren't. You knew what to do this morning and you probably saved a whole town. Plus you kept Dr. Murray alive and so whatever penance you're paying? I think you’re square."

Jared nodded and started flipping through the pages, checking for spikes in radiation and pressure between tectonic plates. He could always sort this side of it out  better than Jensen. 

"You know, you could try talking to me like someone who ’s your friend." Jensen said quietly, almost shyly, which Jared had never seen before. 

"Is that what I am? Your friend?" Jared wasn't going to cry. He refused, but sitting here, looking at Jensen he could feel all those walls start to crumble around him. 

"Jared, you never talked to me like I was your friend, not even then. I didn't find out that you were an Eagle Scout for six months or that you dreamed of working for the Forestry Service or that you had lost your grandfather. I didn't know that you liked kids..." Jensen looked up under his eyelashes. 

"What? I like kids. I've always loved kids." Jared shrugged. 

"Clearly. Didn't you think about ever telling me that? I mean before. That’s kind of important relationship details don't you think?" Jensen wanted to be exasperated with the younger man, but he couldn't find it in himself when all Jared did was shrug again. "I just felt like you became this perfect boyfriend for me, but you never actually trusted me enough to let me get to know you. "

"Jensen, when I met you at Oregon, I had spent months in the Cascades, alone, because I didn't know what I wanted. I had spent years of my life shaping myself into the man that I thought..." The younger man cleared his throat, "that would make my grandfather proud of me. Then just like that, he was gone and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to be a Ranger, but he was never going to see it, you know. Then I saw you and you were the most amazing thing that I had ever seen in my life. Your face would light up talking about rocks and Yellowstone and suddenly all that color that had been gone from my world started coming back. Those trees that I  spent years learning the difference in, they were there in your eyes, and the birds that I couldn't hear singing anymore? They were in your laugh. So please don't think that I didn't tell you things about me that were important, I was just finding more important things with you.

"And then I nearly got you killed and I realized that no matter how much I wanted you, that I couldn't live with myself if you weren't in this world, especially because of me, who made mistakes and acted so impulsively. Now I see you  and it’s like, I  can breathe again, but some of that spark is gone, you know. You don't talk about anything the same  way and I know it’s my fault." Jared looked back down at the numbers he was highlighting and realized that he hadn't really seen the man's eyes light up since he had gotten here. And that this was the real McCoy, what they were learning right now was going to change so much and save so many more people's lives and without casualties. Jensen should have been ecstatic. 

"Jared, I had never met anymore who loved volcanoes as much as I did. From the time that we vacationed in Yellowstone when I was six-years-old and found out that I was standing in a forty mile wide caldera of a super volcano all I ever wanted to do was to study them. I came to Oregon because it was the best school in the nation and Jeff Morgan was the absolute best to learn from. He was smart and dedicated and then he tells me that he became a volcanologist because when he was fourteen, his grandfather died at Mount Saint Helens. He didn't do it because he loved it. He dedicated his life to learning about them because he never wanted another person to lose someone to one. He thought that all the technology that we had and the break throughs that science had made, that still being at the mercy of something like that was still in his power to change." Jensen laid his hand across the table on top of the Eagle Scout's and squeezed his fingers. "I started feeling really guilty for loving that  something that had taken things, family, from other people. And then you came along and you were everything I could have ever wanted wrapped in a bow. You were perfect and then  I started seeing more of you peeking out and I loved you even more. That  you were an Eagle Scout and  you knew how to survive in a fucking snow  - storm and live off the land and you saved my stupid ass. That was amazing and I loved you so much and I don't think you get it. If you had one day decided that you never wanted to see another volcano again or hear about another earthquake or thermal imaging or anything to do with any of it, I'd still love you." Jensen was crying and he felt like a big girl and he looked up to see that the taller man had tears running down his face, too. 

Jared was afraid to speak, he'd played this moment in his head so many times and it had never gone like this. Not even in his wildest dreams could it have been like this. He wanted to scream and pull Jensen across the table and just hold on to him, but he didn't dare. He'd broken them before and he was not going to make the same mistake again. 

"Are you even going to say anything?" Jensen questioned, squeezing his hand again. 

"I'm scared to death to say anything. I'm afraid that I'll say the wrong thing and that I'll break us again." The teacher ducked his head and looked up into those hemlock eyes that he hadn't see all day and smiled that lopsided dimpled grin that Jensen never thought that he'd see again. 

"Okay, I'll say something. I really think I could learn to love kids, a  little miniature you running around, that hair and those eyes. Yep, I think I ’m really warming up to that idea." The older man brought Jared's fingers up to his mouth and kissed them. 

Jared snorted, "Since we are having the discussion, how could you possibly want a little me over a little you? Dude have you seen you?" Jared opened his hand against Jensen's face and smashed his cheeks together. "Pretty!" He said in perfect imitation of Kelly and the volcanologist rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I've spent the years cultivating just enough stubble so that I would not be called pretty ever again. I'm not a girl." The older man looked almost offended and Jared finally took the time, he had been afraid to, all day and looked his fill. 

"Jensen Ross Ackles?" Jared's tone was teasing as he raised his eyebrows towards in question. 

"Hmmm?" Was the only  reply.

"You are not a girl, that's for damn sure. But you are the most stunning thing that I've ever laid eyes on. And if you don't kiss me right now, I'm going to start breaking equipment," Jared grabbed a hold of the collar of Jensen's Henley and crashed his face against his. The volcanologist opened his mouth immediately and sucked Jared's bottom lip inside his mouth before Jared licked at the older man's upper lip before sweeping his tongue into his mouth. 

"I can't find my dad," Tyler came  crashing into the room and the  men jerked apart. 

"What do you mean you can't find your dad?" Jared was on his feet immediately  and rushing to the teenage boy.

"I ran all they way down to the bridge and he's either gone without me or something is wrong!" The boy was becoming increasingly agitated and so Jared pulled him in to his side. 

"He wouldn't leave without you, Tyler," Jared assured him. The few times he had dealings with David Westin he could tell he loved his sons. Granted his older two boys were assholes, but he had never come across as anything other than a man who was a bit overwhelmed and was doing the best he could. And if Jared knew Tyler, he never bothered his overworked dad with the torture he endured at their hands. 

Jared turned to see that Jensen was already on his feet, throwing his laptop and papers into his backpack. "Let's go find your dad." The scientist said and the three of them rushed  out into the street, where there were red taillights as far as the eye could see. 

''What does your dad drive?" Jensen asked as he started running down the other side of the road, squinting his eyes so he could see what types of cars were down the road. 

"A 2000 model extended cab Chevrolet. It's dark blue." Jensen started sticking his head in the stationary cars windows. 

"Has anyone seen Tyler Westin's dad or brothers?" People were shaking the heads and craning their necks trying to help the two men find the young man's father to no avail. 

"I saw his brother in his  Camero , tearing ass out of town about 30 minutes ago," a guy in a minivan had said. 

"Which way?" Jared asked and the man indicated the road outside of town that didn't exist past the bridge. He took off at a run when he realized that the boys had been beating on Tyler when the emergency siren had gone off. Jared barely grabbed  the young boy's coat when he nearly flew off the bridge into the water that was full of rocks and debris. It was churning violently and Jensen would have bet money that it was super heated from the fissures in the road opening up and melting the asphalt of the road in its wake. But there was nothing in the water and Jensen grabbed his long LED trouble light out of his backpack and switched it on. 

Ash was starting to settle on their clothing and in their hair and Jensen looked a little panicked, the Jeep was trashed it would provide no protection from the air and they need to get inside soon. 

Jared grabbed Jensen's hand and started pulling him and the boy toward the High School. Jensen was confused until Jared  pried open the door on one of the busses and pulled his keys from his pocket. 

"You drive a school bus, too? Man, you do like kids," Jensen laughed as the three of them climbed on board and Jared started the diesel engine up and pulled out onto the street. The newer cars would suffocate and die when the ashes got too bad, but this old bus would run for a while. There was something to be said about the old carbureted engines of three decades prior. 

Traffic was at a stand still when it started looking like it was snowing outside the bus, Jensen was standing at Jared's side while Tyler quietly sobbed into the seat right behind his teacher. Jensen wanted to comfort the boy, but really didn't know him well enough to know what to say. He thought about what Jared would say and ended up just placing a hand on the boy's shoulder in comfort. Jensen looked up into the mirror above Jared to see that the young teacher was watching him and their eyes met in the mirror. Jensen saw the pain in the teacher's eyes and understood exactly what Jared needed. He nodded to let the man know that he agreed that if Tyler's family didn't make it they were going to make sure that the young man was taken care of. Jared's eyes got big as if he didn't expect Jensen to agree to just about anything he wanted after the day they had had. 


	5. Chapter 5

April 28, 2007

Highway SR 562

1900

They were almost off of the mountain road and to safety and Jensen was running  on  sheer adrenaline. Jared was using the window washers still to clean the windshield periodica lly and Tyler's sobs had quiet ed to gentle snores as the boy had finally succumbed to the exhaustion of the day. Jensen,  no t wanting to leave Jared's side, had sat down on the steps leading up into the bus. He was down lower than the driver but he could still see the slow moving cars moving at less than a craw down the hill. 

They were probably no more than five hundred yards from the highway that would take them into Fort Lewis and to the disaster relief shelters that  had  been set up by the National Guard and the USGS. It was still a good three - hour drive to the base, with traffic bumper to bumper as it was, but Jensen didn't care, just as long as they got completely off of the mountain and out of harms way. 

Jared rolled his shoulders and he tried to make out any changes in the movement of the vehicles in front of them. They had slowed to a grinding halt around twenty minutes before and neither man could see what was happening ahead of them. Jensen had tried radioing and calling the supply trucks that were provi di ng them escorts but he either didn't have access to the private number that the military was using or something was wrong with the busses radio. 

The volcanologist was exhausted and getting ready to get out and see what the problem was when something slammed into door glass right in front of Jensen's face just like the scene from The Empire Strikes Back where the  Mynock are chewing on the power couples of the Millennium Falcon in th e asteroid field. Jensen react ed almost exactly the same way and came up off the  step before he realized that it was just a young girl around Tyler's age that had banged on the door. The younger man opened the door and the girl stumbled aboard, with a cough and unable to breath. 

Once she finally caught her breath and Jensen gave her some water, Jared recognized her as the oldest daughter of one of the town's families. 

"Emily? What hap pened?" Jared asked and waited  for  the girl to tell them what was going on .

"We were driving along and almost to the bottom of the hill and the car just died," The girl wasn't even old enough to have her driver's license so Jared didn't even bother asking her what she thought might be the problem. Not to mention that it didn't matter if they ran out of g as or if it just died due to the ashes. 

"Okay, Emily." Jensen took the initiative and asked her how close they were to the end of the road and she couldn't tell them exactly, but maybe three are four car lengths. 

"What should we do?" Jared asked the older man and Jens en weighed his options. They were probably far enough of f the mountain to avoid the worst of it, but Jensen wouldn 't feel anywhere near at ease until they are completely off the mountain and at the base, truthfu lly he probably wouldn’t feel at ease until he was back in Oregon. 

"Emily?" Jensen asked again, "Can you remember how far away from your car that we are?"

"I don't know," the girl looked as if she was going to cry, but she sniffled a couple of times and then answered, “ I don't know, maybe six cars?"

The two men looked at each other and Jensen nodded at Jared to ask, since he almost made her cry by asking how far from them she was. "Emily, calm down, you're doing great, okay? Now, I need you to tell me, why you didn't just go to the car right behind you?" 

The girl looked a little confused and said, "Because this was the only one that was still running?"

Jared's eyes widened as he tried to see out the window but all he can see was the car in front of them and the truck that was in front of it. 

Jensen took out his duffle bag and pulled out his respirator mask that is in the bag. It was a newer model than the one he had in Guam and Jared places his hand on the volcanologist's arm. "What are you thinking?"

Jense n checked  the filter in the front and looked at the teacher, "It's not ideal, but I need go down there and find a way off this hill. I'm going to go stir crazy until I’ m back at sea level."

Jared nodded at the man and then pulled him in and kissed him as hard as he can before they pull apart to find a teenage girl staring at them. Jared's face turned bright red and then Emily giggled into her hand and said, "That was hot!"

Jensen rolled his eyes again and strapped the mask to his face. He  pried open the door and then step ped out into the night. 

April 28, 2007

Highway SR 562

2000

Barely an hour after Jensen had stepped out onto the road, the first of the passengers had started making their way back up to the bus. Jared enlisted Emily and Tyler's help in giving water and oxygen to the people that Jensen had sent back up the hill. 

Jared was becoming more worried by every passenger that show ed up that wasn't Jensen. He just wanted this day over and done with and to curl up around his boyfriend and sleep. They could catch up on other things later, since Jared wasn't ever planning on letting the volcanologist go , again . 

By the time twelf th person had pounded on the side of the bus, Jared was considering getting his own mask and going to find the older scientist. Something moved in the darkness of the night and though Jared couldn't really make out what it was, he only pondered it for a second be fore there was a sharp rap on the glass and he opened the door to a soot  - covered Jensen. 

He was filthy. I t looked as though he was covered in fiberglass insulation from the attic of a house. The volcanologist pulled at his respirator and released it from his mouth and neck. He took a very large gulp from the bottle of water that Tyler h a d handed him and then poured the rest of it over his head. 

"Jared?" The man addressed his boyfriend and then moved to the front of the bus to talk to him. The newly reacquainted lovers spoke quietly, while asking the rest of the riders to move to the back of the bus and to place anything soft over the heads. 

Tyler lingered behind Jare d's seat while Jensen spoke  the teacher. "We are going to have to get up to a high rate of speed, but the good news is, there isn't anything in out way until right before hitting the highway."

Jared looked oddly perplexed at what had transpired while the other man had been outdoors. "What did you do?"

"I put every car in neutral and let it roll down the hill until the whole path was cleared. Except for one minor hiccup." Jensen smiled that devil may care smile that the other man loved so much and his green eyes were bright  and had a fond twinkle in them. 

"How small of a hiccup?" Jared asked. He wasn't letting this man play him with that smile and a glint in his eye. 

"Toyota Corolla, I couldn't get it to go down any straighter, so your are going to have build up speed and push it out of the way." Jensen smiled and shrugged like it was a simple request. 

"What?" The teacher said louder than he wanted to. He dropped his voice back down to a whisper. "Are you crazy?" 

"About you?  Abso-fucking-lutely .  In general? The jury is still out. Probably." He  raised up on the balls of his feet to kiss the tip of Jared's nose before saying, "for luck."

"We are going to need a lot of that." Jared  looked back at the passengers that are in the very back of the bus. 

"Come on, Jay, its a tiny car. This is a huge bus that is made to take heavy impacts and no one but the driver where's a seat belt. It's mostly out of the way, you'll clip it at best." Jensen's smile is way too wide and Jared shook his head again. "Want me to drive?"

"No thank you. I don't think I  can ride with you again tonight." T he taller man replied, before he added, "Tyler? Go to the back of the bus, son."

To  the teen's credit, his eyes get wide, but he walked to the back of the bus as asked. "Alright everyone, all of you get down and stay down until I give the ok? Ok?"

Th ere were murmurs of 'ok' and a few nods and Jared decided it was now or never. He started the bus up and said, "everybody down!" Before kissing Jensen hard on the mouth and then shoved the object o f his affection right behind the passenger seat. "I love you." 

Jensen  winked, "I love you," then the got behind he set had braced himself. "Fast Jay." The volcanologist added. 

Jared fasted seatbelt and started the bus. With the clutch pushed all the way in he hit the first two gears quickly, trying to tack the RPMs up high enough that he could at least be in third by the bottom of the hill. The ashes still looked like snowflakes falling and the effect of the high beams reminded him somewhat of light speed on Star Wars. When finally saw that the Corolla was dead center of the road, it was to late to do anything but throw the gearshift down in to fourth and let out a long "Holy Shit!"

The bus hit maximum speed right before the road dipped down and sent them flying through the air and almost completely over the car, before hitting the pavement again Jared fought to regain control of the wheel as they barreled on down the deserted road. 

"Is everyone okay?" Jared yelled out the back of the bus and then looked up into the mirror to see the passengers check. Jensen was full on holding his side and doubled over. 

"When we get stopped, I think that your aim needs to adjusted. Clipped and head on are two very, very different concepts. The teacher said in all seriousness, his gazed locked on Jensen's in the mirror. 

"If I remember correctly," Jensen leaned his body forward where he could whisper in the younger man's ear, "You're quite fond of my aim."

"I don't remember that at all," Jared answered with a smirk. "You're kind of old now, are you sure you can, you know?'

“Don't make me make you pull over and stick everyone outside in this ash cloud, because I will." Jensen didn't stop smiling until the bus had pulled into the military base. 

April 29, 2007

Fort Lewis, Washington

0200

The shower and the once over from the base's medical personnel had Jensen fighting to keep his eyes open. He, Jared and Tyler were just leaving the medical wing when a blond haired man with two older teenagers came bursting into the room. 

"Daddy!" Tyler had refused to leave either scientist's side, but now he took off at a dead run. 

"Tyler!" The man didn't stop until he had picked the young man up and hugged him and kissed the teenager with an inch of his life. "Oh my, God, Ty! I didn't want to leave, but the  MP's made me. I've never been more scared in my life."

Jared and Jensen watched from a respectful distance, neither one wanted to encroach on the father-son reunion. Both happy beyond words that Tyler's dad and brothers had been reunited with the boy. 

"Dr. Ackles?" Jensen turned to see David Westin, Tyler tucked into the man's side like he didn't want to stop touching him, ever. Jensen understood the sentiment. 

"Mr. Westin?" Jensen held his hand out to the father. "You've got a hell of a kid there." 

"I kno w it." The man clasped his hand. Jensen used his other hand to tussle the teen's hair. "He normally doesn't shut up about Mr. P. and how he wants to be an Eagle Scout." Jared at least had the good sense to look a little bit sheepish. "Now, I'm hearing how he wants to study volcanoes. Maybe at Oregon?"

Jared laughed in to his fist. "I don't know Tyler, I'm hearing good things about the University of Washington. There is going to be a lot of clean up and more early warning research to put into practice. I also think that you might know the guy that I'm going to ask to be help out with some survival training." 

"That would be cool,  Mr. P., " Tyler agreed and then he and the rest of the Westin family made their way to the barracks that had been assigned for them. 

"I think I'm kind of done studying volcanoes," Jensen said and leaned into Jared as they rounded the corner into the room that that base personnel had insisted they take. "Tell me more about this kid gig."

The room was small, with two cots that the boys pushed together. Jensen fell onto his face first before pulling the younger man into his arms. "Well, the way I see it, don't the best volcanoes come in pairs?" 

Jensen yawned again and added, "I don't know if they are the best. Most well known."

"I think that maybe, we should have ourselves a pair of twin volcanoes. Never know when the y are going to erupt, always making a mess. Temperamental." Jared kissed the older man. 

"Sounds like you," Jensen said into the younger man's mouth. 

The only response he got was a snore. 

May 01, 2007

Eugene, Oregon

Jensen tried to fit his key in the lock, but he was uncoordinated with Jared's tongue shoved down his throat and his body pressing his into the door. 

"Babe," Jared pulled away for one second, of course Jensen tried to follow his mouth but only met Jared's index finger. "Wait," He forced the key win the lock and they both fell over the threshold. 

Jensen kicked the door shut and then started pulling at Jared's tee shirt, h is own went into the pile and the next thing Jared kne w they were both in their boxer briefs. 

"Are we... " Jared tried to speak against the shorter man attacking his mouth but it was almost impossible. "Right here?" 

"What's wrong with right here? I've waited five years." Jensen slid Jared's underwear down and then swallowed him down tip to root. 

"Christ!" Jared arched his back against the hardwood floor and the rug that he was laying halfway on. Jensen's mouth was hot and wet, bobbing up and down on his shaft, while his tongue was doing this deliciously wicked thing on the way up, like Jared was the best lollipop he'd ever eaten in his life. 

Jared could stop thrusting his hips up. He was trying not to gag his boyfriend, but it was so hard to not thrust. 

Jensen  finally held Jared's hips still before pulling off and smiling at the man above him. Then , Jensen was laying upside down in the floor and saying, "I want you to fuck my face, Jay,"

Jared lost the ability to speak or think as he straddled the top of Jensen's head and then he was sinking back in to sinful mouth. Jared planted his hand on Jensen's upper body and then began slide all he way down his throat until he was hitting the back of the volcanologist's throat. Jensen's hands cupped Jared's bare ass and pulled him in and down is throat so quickly that Jared didn't thing he was going to be able to last very long. In and out , and up and dow n, s wallow when it ’ s in and a tongue flick on the out. Then Jensen started sucking again around the head and then humming and swallowing in the throat and the sensations and the visuals were too much the next time Jensen swallowed around his length Jared could not stop it, his balls tightened up and then jet after jet of come came out while Jensen continued to suck on his sensitive cock until every last shock wave of his orgasm had been pulled out of him and he was a sweating boneless heap. Jensen let his Jared's cock fallout of his mouth and then laid the younger man on his stomach and started blowing on his entrance. 

Jensen loved to rim and suck  cock as much has liked to receive oral. He carefully separated the cheeks of Jared's ass and that first touch of his tongue around Jared pink hole and the man started moaning into it. His tongue vibrated on every pass into his ass and soon Jared was a sloppy wet mess as Jensen kept sinking his tongue farther and farther inside until Jared was hard and leaking again against the floor of the living room. 

Then he pulled a packet of lube out and a condom. The lube was cool at first as Jensen pushed his middle finger inside as far as it out go. His finger moved in and out several times before he began rubbing tight cir cles  against Jared sweet spot. He was going to come again and had to grab Jen's wrist and still it. 

"I wan t to come with you inside me," w as all the younger man had to say before Jensen was pulling his own boxer briefs off and grabbing for the condom. "You don't need that with me, unless you, you know. I've never been bare with anyone but you and I have not been with a soul since that night."

"Christ, I'm going to come before I even get inside you, if you don't stop. I haven't been with anyone since you. Except Duke." Jensen groaned out. 

"Who is Duke?' Jared asked as he shove d the older man onto his back. 

"Not who. What." Jensen said and pulled the Eagle Scout down on top of him. He crashed his lips to the younger mans and felt Jared line himself up. 

"Did yo u buy a toy, baby?" Jared asked, h is tongue fucking into Jensen's mouth as he impaled himself on Jensen's cock. 

"God yes. Nothing had or will ever fill me up like you. So I had to get a big one, a really big one." Jensen grabbed at Jared's hips and then drove up into the man while forcing Jared down farther on his length. 

Jared raised himself up again before dropping himself down. Up and down, quicker and quicke r and Jared's throbbing erection smashing into his own stomach and Jensen drilling into his prostate had him ready to blow. Jensen finally reached up and his still lube slick hand grabbed Jared and stripped h i m in time with the motion of Jared's hips. All it took was Jensen corkscrewing his hand on the ups stroke, where the shaft and head meet in that bundle of n erves and Jared came so hard that it landed on his chin, with Jensen forcing him up and down on his dick, still thrusting into his prostate and pul led every ouch of pleasure of the teacher. 

Jared clamped down Jensen's dick so tightly that it was almost painful, his head dragging against he rim of Jared's ass Jensen's own climax started, it uncoiled from the base of his spine and then across his groin and then he was coming so hard, rope after rope emptying into the younger man's body until it was leaking pack down Jared's leg. 

Jensen pulled Jared close to him on the floor by his front door and just held him. 

"I can't believe that we didn't even make it inside." Jared chuckled. 

"Baby, after five years of not being able to have you, I'm always going to worship you like this. I'll never tell you no or make you feel like you did something wrong. You are perfect." Jensen kissed him again and said, "Want to try the bed out?"


	6. Chapter 6

April 29, 2011

University of Washington 

Seattle, Washington

1300 

Dr. Jared Padalecki cleaned off a section  of the white board in his class room. There were notes and doodles and formulas and a smorgasbord of different things scattered about the classroom as of late. He sort of felt like that was how his life was always going to be. 

"Alright, have a good weekend, don't forget to turn your final draft of your thesis in by Monday. P resentations begin on next week." A litany of groans and moans where heard in the room and he responded with a, "No one told you all to apply for your PhD, you've known this was coming."

The students filed out of the room and Jared pushed his chair in, grabbing his briefcase and walking down the hallway to Jensen's office. 

"Jake, put that down, shit!" Jared heard his husband say. 

"Shit," was echoed back. 

"No, no. We don't say that Jackson. Seriously guys, your papa will kill me if you ever repeat the word."

"Shit!" Jared heard again. "Not you, too. Come on."

Jared rounded the corner to see Jackson and Jake Padalecki-Ackles throwing papers all over the room and Jensen tried unsuccessfully to wipe chocolate from one the boy's mouth. 

"What have you got there?" Jared asked as he knelt down to his son and the boy brought it right to him. "Jen, you letting them play with thesis proposals?"

"I did n 't let those two do anything. I miss volcanoes," Jensen leaned down and kissed his husband before both boys jumped on Jared and he groaned like they weighted way more thirty pounds. 

"Whose idea was this anyway? I thought terrible twos was an age, but you guys are almost three and I think the terrible twos just means that there are two of you. Which I said was horrible idea. But no, do I ever get my way? No." Jared sighed as his sons kept jumping up and down on them while he continued to lament, "This is just a bad idea."

"This was your idea," Jensen said, picking up a chewed up gummy bear from the corner of his office and dropping it in the trash bin. "First you had to do the whole, I like kids and then when you got me to think about in, you hit me with the aren't the best volcanoes twins?" Jared looked up from the carpet of the office to smile fondly and the man who was using Lysol wipes to clean off everything on his desk and then pick up Jackson's jacket and put a chubby little fist in it. "Isn't it your weekend?" The older man asked when the boy yanked his arm out of his coat an d proceeded to pull one shoe and his sweater off. "How did we get a  streaker ? No one in my family has a tendency to do that."

"The different weekends actually only works if you are no longer married," to the which the older scientist looked like he was considering, before Jared smiled and added, "I don't know, you liked to go with out clothes like that whole year that we got back together. Remember that?" Jared gi ggled and tried to wrestle the sweater back on the wiggly mess that was his offspring. 

"I miss being naked. I miss sex, remember when we weren't  tired all the time? When will we have the energy for that again?" Jensen finally got the boy's jacket on. 

"I think that will be when they both are in grad school," Jared mentally calculated and said, "What have we got? Another 23 years?" 

Jensen sighed at that, "No , you were much older than that and I, I May have divorce you if I have to wait that long."

Jared snorted, "You wouldn't dare." 

"I would a ctually think about it. But  I had this wonderful idea while I was at work. Why not have more kids?  Maybe a couple of girls? Wouldn't that be amazing, two little girls. Pigtails and little pea coats and those little patent leather shoes?" Jared said, following Jensen out of the room. 

"Your Papa is certifiable. The only p erson that I know of that wants to solve our current kid problems with more kids. Repeat after me boys. Nuts!" Jensen picked up Jackson and nuzzled his nose in his hair. "You'd really want to have a couple of more?"

Jared looked at his other son, trying to pick u p his something up off the side walk and put it in his mouth. "I'd absolutely have more kids with you!"

"Yeah?" Jensen smiled, even mor e fondly. "We do have two pretty great ones."

"Have you lost your mind? I’ m exhausted and now you want have even more? I think you've lost your mind!" Jared sighed. "Jake? Your daddy is bonkers!"

" Dadda !" Both men stopped and stared open mouthed at each other. 

"Did he just?" Jensen dropped  down onto his knees and then grabbed Jake's face. 

"I think he finally did!  Say  dadda ,  come on . " Jared tried to prompt Jake,  who, even though the boy had said plenty of words and even some short sentences, had never uttered a single of their names to say, " Dadda !"

"Shit!" Jake said. 

"I don't know Jen, has a nice ring to it. Shit!" Jared pointed at his husband and the Jensen chuckled. 

"If he starts calling me that, I'm seriously going to kill you!"


End file.
